Apparatus for reproducing races



y 1939- F, DU P. AMMEN ET AL v2,166,132

APPARATUS FOR REPRODUCING RACES Filed July 1, 1936 INVENTORJ dia/nci/a iQw @711 a/m/rnm ATTORNEY5 Patented July 18, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE liam B. Maxwell, Beverly Hills, CaliL, assignors of one-third to Cadmir A. Miketta, Los Angeles,

" alif.

Application July 1, 1938, Serial No. 88,352

SCIaims.

This invention relates to apparatus for reproducing races, such as dog races, horse races, or automobile races.

The spectators at a horse race have considerable diiiiculty in following the race around the track, and it is almost impossible for persons seated in the grandstand to see the relative positions of the horses at the turns of the track. Even on the far stretch the running animals are so far away that it is difiicult to distinguish the numbers on the riders. As a matter of fact, the only part of the race that is satisfactorily viewed by one in the grandstand, is the start from the post, and the finish.

The general object of this invention is to overcome these difficulties, and to provide means whereby the entire race may be seen by a person in the grandstand as though he were running alongside of the horses. This enables a person who has bet on a certain horse, to see clearly the efforts that the horse and jockey make to win the race. It also enables any fouls occurring at distant points on the track to be shown plainly to the spectators.

A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby a continuous reproduction of a race can be made through the medium of a camera without necessitating any changes of focus of the camera throughout the entire race, and without making it necessary for the moving camera to pass around any curves in its course along the track.

A further object is to provide apparatus capable of being used in connection with a broadcasting station for broadcasting the race by television, and capable of being used for taking a continuous moving picture film of a race.

Further objects of the invention will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel parts and combination of parts to be described hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce an emcient apparatus for reproducing races.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is described in the following specification, while the broad scope of the invention is pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a plan of a race course, embodying our invention, the ends of the track being broken away; and

Figure 2 is a vertical cross-section upon a larger scale, taken about on the line 2-2 ,of Fig. 1, and further illustrating details of the invention.

The invention is most readily applied to an elongated race course of the common type illustrated in Fig. 1, and including an oblong track i surrounding a fleld 2, and with a grandstand 3 located opposite the home stretch 4 and the starting post 5. 6

In practicing the invention, we provide a television transmitter or camera 6. When the race starts, this device is preferably located at the point I, which is substantially the center of curvature for the first substantially arcuate curve or 10 turn 8 of the track, if it is assumed that the race starts at a point along the straight-away in front of the grandstand 3. In the event the race starts at some other point, the device 6 is initially so positioned as to be directed upon the start or a 15 short distance ahead of the starting point. In the present instance, as the racers, for example horses, pass into this curve 8 the instrument is trained onto them, and as they pass around the curve the device is turned to keep the image of 20 the running horses on the receiving plate of the instrument. In order to facilitate this, the camera is preferably mounted to swivel on the vertical axis of a shaft 9 mounted to rotate in a pedestal ID. If it is merely desired to show the 26 horses at the ends of the track, a similar instrument would be provided at the center of curvature for the other end curve ll of the track.

If substantially the entire race is to be reproduced, we prefer to mount the device on a vehicle, 80 for example, an automobile. In order to prevent vibration in the picture reproduced, it is preferable to provide a guide [3 for the vehicle, which may consist of a smooth concrete runway with guide grooves M for the auto wheels. This keeps the car exactly in the center of the field, and insures that the camera will require no change of focus during the race.

As the horses pass along the far stretch IS, the automobile should be started up and quickly accelerated so as to keep the camera substantially opposite to the group of horses. At the other end of the field the car is quickly stopped at the point I6, which is the center of curvature for the end curve ll. At this point the camera-man, of course, rotates the camera on its vertical axis to keep it on the horses until they arrive at the home stretch where the horses will come into plain view of the frantic mob in the grandstand. The operator may, of course, manually direct the device 6 upon the leading horses to keep them within the field of view of the transmitter or camera by using a view finder associated with the device 6 in the manner that such devices are used on cameras. 56

The television camera 6 is in electrical connection with a television projection machine I! that occupies an elevated platform above the seats in the grandstand. Where it is possible to do so, a projection screen may be placed in front of the grandstand, and above the line'of vision between the spectators and the stretch. But as this might interfere with the view of the horses actually running on the track, we prefer to provide a projection screen l8 at one side or end of the grandstand. In order to make the picture on the screen more distinct, the screen is preferably placed in a dark pocket or chute IS, the walls of which are painted black on their inner side.

It will now be evident that a person in the grandstand can turn his head to the right whenever he wishes to see a. close-up picture of the race while it is going on. We use the term close-up" because we suggest employing a telescopic lens in the receiving camera. As the transmitter can be kept opposite to the leading horses a person in the grandstand can see the true position of the horse he has bet on at any moment with relation to the other horses in the race. One ,will not suddenly discover that his -No. 7 horse that seemed to be leading is really the No. 9 horse, and No. '7 is trailing the field.

In situations where the inside rail 20 is high or the spectators are crowding around the inner rail, it may be desirable to raise the transmitter or camera 6 considerably as indicated in Fig. 2, so as to enable it to shoot down to the track. This is permitted by a joint 6a.

In Figure 1 the dotted lines 2| indicate the underground wires of an all-metal electric television circuit leading through conductor rails 22 and brushes 23 wired up to the camera through insulated wires 24. The wires 2|, of course, connect up to the projection device i1, and they may also connect up to electrical apparatus of any kind, such as illustrated at 25, that is connected bycircuit wires 26 to a television broadcasting station. Such a station would supplysubscribers with television pictures of races. In this way, a subscriber who is interested in a certain horse, is enabled to actually see the distant race on the ground glass plate of his receiving instrument.

If desired, color television may be employed in accordance with the invention described in a recent Patent No. 1,725,710, granted to John Hays Hammond, Jr., August 20, 1929. In that case it may not be necessary to employ the dark box l9, as the contrasting colors will make the picture on the screen much more distinct.

The runway upon which the transmitting or pickup device 6 is moved may be elliptical, positioned within the track and uniformly spaced from its inner rail. Or, separate pickup devices may be positioned either inside or outside the track, at the curves and/or at other points, and such devices serially connected to the circuit 2| as may be desired in the following race.

It is understood that the embodiment of the invention described herein is only one of the many embodiments this invention may take, and we do not wish to be limited in the practice of the invention, nor in the claims, to the particular embodiment set forth.

What we claim-is:

1. In apparatus for reproducing a race, the combination of a track having a substantially arcuate curved end section and substantially parallel stretches connecting with the same, a vehicle located substantially at the center of curvature of the said arcuate curved section, a guideway for said vehicle extending from said center of said curved end section and substantially parallel with the said stretches, an image-registering device with a lens mounted on the vehicle to rotate on a substantially vertical axis for registering images of the racers in the device while running on the curved sections, said vehicle operating to proceed along the said guideway and between the stretches to maintain itself substantially opposite to the racers and with the lensconstantly in focus therewith as they race along the stretches.

2. In apparatus for reproducing a race on a track having substantially arcuate curved end sections and substantially parallel stretches connecting with the same, the combination of a vehicle located substantially at the center of curvature of one of the said curved sections, a guideway for said vehicle located midway'between said stretches and extending substantially parallel with the same between the centers of curvature of the end sections, and along which the vehicle may move, an image-registering device mounted on the vehicle to rotate on a substantially vertical axis for registering images of the racers on thecurved sections, a grandstand opposite the finishing stretch, a projection screen in view of the spectators in the grandstand located out of the line of vision of the spectators in the grandstand viewing the race, and a television image projecting machine cooperating with the said imageregistering device to project television images onto the said screen, whereby a spectator in the grandstand can see the true relative positions of the racers on the said screen.

' 3. Apparatus constructed as described in claim 2, in which the screen is located substantially at the end of the grandstand so that the spectators can view the screen by looking toward the side, and thereby leaving the spectators view of the track unobstructed.

FRANCIS DU PONT AMIMEN. WILLIAM H. MAXWELL. 

